Ryan Evans' List of What Not To Do To Catch a Guy
by IceBlueRose
Summary: Ryan had a very specific set of rules when it came to liking a guy. And, of course, Chad had to break every single one of them. Chad/Ryan pre-slash.


Disclaimer: I don't own anything associated with _High School Musical._ It belongs to Disney.

Notes: Okay, so this is not only my first Chad/Ryan but my first HSM fic. So, apologies if they're out of character! This was written for Taming the Muse on LiveJournal. Prompt: Rule number seven. Hope you enjoy and feedback is always welcome!

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When Ryan liked a guy, he always had a list of things that he could and could not do. It was an extremely well thought out list and one that had never failed to work. Which was, of course, the most important thing.

And, of course, Chad Danforth just had to shoot that list to hell, didn't he?

It wasn't like he hadn't _tried_ to stick to the list. He had, in fact, given it his best effort. But for some reason, each and every rule that Ryan set for himself just flew out the window when it came to Chad.

_Rule number one: __Do not blend into the crowd. __Dress boldly__ enough to be noticed._

This wasn't a problem for Ryan, it never had been. He loved bright colors, matching them together in ways no one would have ever thought of before and then making it all work. It was something he prided himself on.

Still, he'd been on the verge of giving up last year during the disaster that had been the Twinkle Towne auditions. He'd even gone as far as wearing neutral colors one day and that had been the day that things had changed. Because instead of just letting him walk by without any form of acknowledgement, Chad had very clearly noticed him. So even though he hadn't gotten rid of the shirts with patterns, textures, or some other form of design on them, he'd started wearing more neutral colors like cream, beige, and white. He'd mixed it up with darker colors like black, navy blue, dark purple and had had to fight not to smile when he'd felt Chad's eyes on him.

_Rule number two: __Do not deviate from __the __usual routine._

Ryan had really tried to follow this rule. After all, with this rule he got to show off his talents in various performances. Maybe Chad didn't go to them but with the way Ms. Darbus was always praising him and Sharpay, Ryan knew it would be too hard for Chad to ignore.

Or it should have been. Chad seemed to have this unnatural talent for tuning Ms. Darbus out – something that Ryan just didn't understand – and it seemed that he did it every chance he got.

So, maybe Chad didn't know as much as he should about Ryan and what he was capable of but Ryan stuck to his routine because this had always been foolproof before. There was no reason for things to change now.

But then Sharpay had insisted that they know why the jocks were suddenly getting friendly with the scholastic geeks. This had led to him spying on them by showing up to watch basketball practice for a bit each day. Despite the fact that he'd tried to stay out of sight, he'd caught Chad looking at him more than once, a look of confusion on his face.

Ryan seriously considered showing up to watch the team practice more often.

_Rule number three: Never, ever, under any circumstances__ get involved in one of __Sharpay's__ "fabulous" plans._

It didn't matter how often Ryan reminded himself of this rule, his sister always managed to convince him to break it. Which is how he found himself spending the first portion of his summer break spying on Troy and Gabriella.

The fact that he could also use this time to watch Chad was a bonus. After all, if he couldn't date him, at least he could...admire. And despite what Sharpay said, this didn't make him a stalker. After all, the whole reason he even had this opportunity was because Sharpay had decided to stalk Troy – something that she really hadn't appreciated him pointing out. The irony of it all hadn't been lost on him.

Not that he wasn't a little bit happy about it. If it hadn't been for Sharpay scheming to get Troy hired, then Troy never would have gotten his friends jobs at Lava Springs, and then the summer would have had much less Chad than it did now.

So maybe Sharpay's plans weren't too horrible.

_Rule number four: Never buy any__ gifts. At least, not until after a few dates._

It'd been such a small thing, really. Ryan didn't even know if it counted as buying a gift.

It was just a necklace after all but when his parents had invited Troy to dinner and then gone on to praise each and every single thing about him (with Sharpay's encouragement, of course), Chad had been their server, which had been the highlight of that disaster of a dinner for Ryan.

The light had caught the stone and suddenly Ryan had found himself distracted by the way it rested in the hollow of his neck quite a few times. And that's when Ryan had gotten the brilliant idea to get Chad another necklace. Nothing fancy because then it wouldn't be Chad.

But there was nothing wrong with a little more style.

It had taken some time before he'd found a necklace that he'd liked that he thought Chad would also like but he'd done it.

Getting it to Chad hadn't been as hard as he'd thought it would be. It'd been a simple matter of having Fulton give him the list of which lockers belonged to the employees, complete with combinations. The next step had been getting it into Chad's locker – after writing a simple note, which he'd taped to the box – without anyone seeing him.

He hadn't seen Chad outside of the dining room until the staff baseball game and he'd had to fight not to grin at the sight of the necklace he'd bought around Chad's neck.

_Rule number five: Never make the first move. Let them do it._

If he wanted to get technical, Ryan could probably argue that he had stuck by this rule. It wasn't making a move to play in the baseball game that Chad also happened to be playing in, it was more of a challenge.

Until he considered the fact that he hadn't played baseball in years and had never even been tempted to.

It had been a rush to stand on the pitcher's mound again and he couldn't help but flirt with Chad a little as they argued over whether or not Chad could dance.

Not that Chad seemed to mind.

_Rule number six: Do not allow them to even touch the hat._

To Ryan, this seemed like a perfectly reasonable rule. Especially after the incident a few years ago when the guy he had liked had decided that taking his hat and wearing it would be the best idea in the world. Ryan had snatched the hat back and then left the room altogether after that.

When Sharpay had asked why he had suddenly stopped pursuing him, he'd told her that no one but him was allowed to wear his hat unless he said so. She'd understood completely.

And then after the game, Chad had suggested they switch shirts while grinning at him and Ryan hadn't been able to resist. He definitely hadn't regretted his choice to agree when he'd gotten the chance to see Chad without a shirt for a few minutes.

Seeing Chad in his shirt had caused his chest to tighten and he'd had to look away for a moment. And then he'd turned and laughed, saying that the hat didn't match the shirt before suggesting they switch hats as well.

The look of surprise on Chad's face had lasted for almost ten seconds before he'd laughed and taken off his baseball hat and held it out to him.

Really, he couldn't be blamed for being unable to resist Chad's smile.

_Rule number seven: Never, ever get your hopes up. It never ends well._

Ryan didn't expect things to really be any different than they were last year. Yes, he and Chad had seemed to have started a friendship over the summer but that had been this summer. If anything, he was only expecting a quick greeting when he saw Chad and the others in the hall.

It wasn't that he expected to just be forgotten by them, by any of them really, but when had summer relationships ever continued on into the school year?

So it was a surprise when Chad walked in to the same homeroom as him and stopped next to his desk.

"Hey, Evans."

Ryan tilted his head back, blinking a bit in surprise. "Chad." Briefly, he wondered where his ability to actually say an entire sentence had gone but he shoved the thought aside when Chad put a hand on his shoulder.

"I was wondering if you wanted to sit with us at lunch."

For a moment, Ryan considered pinching himself just to see if he was awake before he gave himself a mental shake and smiled. "Definitely. It'll be fun."

Chad grinned. "Awesome." He moved to slide into the desk next to Ryan's and as he did, leaned over and whispered, "Thanks for the necklace by the way."

Ryan froze for a second before turning to look at Chad. The knowing look on his face caused Ryan to reconsider the automatic denial. "How'd you know? I didn't sign the note."

"I didn't until that day you left that note for me a couple weeks ago. On the table? You told me we were all meeting up at the end of Gabriella's shift for movie night at your place." He nodded at Ryan's notebook. "You've got pretty distinctive handwriting, dude."

"And you still want me to eat lunch with you?"

"I asked, didn't I?"

Ryan studied him and then nodded. "Yeah."

"Then I'll see you then," he told him, turning when Zeke bounded into the room and shouted out a greeting. Even as he gave Zeke a high five, he glanced over at Ryan and winked, his grin growing when he saw the way Ryan's eyes widened.

Ryan turned to the front, a small smile appearing on his face.

Somehow, it just didn't surprise him that Chad had once again managed to break one of the rules on his list and completely go against his expectations.

It looked like there was hope for him after all.


End file.
